Fishing and Cooking are made for one another, if you do one without the other you’ll be wishing you hadn’t later on. As with any profession, Cooking and Fishing can sometimes dig a hole in your pocket. Take a look at this Gold Guide to learn how to sell what you make for the most profit.

This Fishing and Cooking Leveling Guide is updated for patch 4.3 and Cataclysm.

Fishing and cooking go hand in hand…catch fish and cook them, they are perfect for leveling together. Higher level cooking skills require many components derived from fishing. Leveling fishing and cooking it doesn’t take a great deal of talent, instead it takes an intense grind consisting of thousands of casts, fish, and flames to cook them over. I’ll send you around to various lakes, trainers, and NPCs who sell recipes for this leveling guide. Basically you’re going to stand around casting thousands of times catching thousands of fish and then frying their brains out over a fire while you are leveling to 525 with this guide.

Why Fish?

Fishing & cooking is one of the more effective ways to make money and lucky for you leveling them is easy with this guide. You can fish while surfing the web, reading a book, or chatting with friends. You can cook those fish into popular raid foods and sell them for quite a bit on your realm’s Auction House. But this is not the best way to make gold, the best methods are discussed here. You should only try leveling fishing if you really enjoy it, otherwise don’t waste your time. You can make a ton using these methods.

It is important to note these instructions in this guide are just one method of leveling fishing. Fishing can be leveled in all sorts of ways, if you want you can catch fish entirely from the noobie ponds in Ironforge or Orgrimmar. It does not matter where you fish, the chance you level per catch is based on your fishing skill level, so really you can try leveling anywhere. The only benefit to following the following instructions and leveling where this guide directs you to is to have the necessary fish to level cooking in parallel or to sell valuable fish on the Auction House.

You may also find it useful to work towards Achievements while you are leveling your fishing. For example, you might want to try leveling your low level fishing in Ironforge until you catch Old Ironjaw. Although this is the least profitable way to level fishing since you’ll vendor everything you catch. And it might take until level 525 to actually catch Old Ironjaw (I caught him around level 280).

Lures

In order to catch the best fish you should always use a lure to maximize the number of fish you can reel in. If you can’t afford them you can go without or find nightcrawlers to use instead. These will effectively decrease the amount of casts you’ll make to catch each fish and will make leveling your fishing a lot easier.

Fishing and Cooking (Levels 1-225)

For this section be sure to have the recipes for Brilliant Smallfish, Longjaw Mud Snapper, Bristle Whisker Catfish, and Mithril Head Trout. See the chart above for where to buy them. Now have fun leveling!

Fishing Levels

Cooking Levels

Location

Cook

1-100

1-100

Horde: The lake around Bloodhoof Village in MulgoreAlliance: Crystal Lake in Elwynn Forest

Brilliant Smallfish
Longjaw Mud Snapper

100-165

100-125

Horde: Thunderbluff near the Auction HouseAlliance: Stormwind

Bristle Whisker Catfish

165-225

125-225

Western Plaguelands

Bristle Whisker Catfish
Mithril Head Trout

Fishing (Levels 225-325) and Cooking (Levels 225-300)

For this section of the guide be sure to have the recipes for Filet of Redgill, Nightfin Soup, Poached Sunscale Salmon, and Baked Salmon.

Fishing Levels

Cooking Levels

Location

Cook

225-300

225-275

Eastern Plaguelands

Filet of Redgill, Nightfin Soup or Poached Sunscale Salmon

300-325

275-300

Blasted Lands or Jademir Lake, Feralas

Baked Salmon

Fishing (Levels 325-450) and Cooking (Levels 300-450)

Due to high fishing requirements throughout Outland and Northrend, it is strongly suggested to have at least a +75 lure and +20 fishing pole whenever possible while leveling. A suitable pole is easily obtained from a quest in Lower City in Shattrath, “Rather Be Fishin’.”

Cooking Dailies

Leveling Cooking was made really easy in Northrend. All you have to do is your Dalaran Cooking Quests to earn Dalaran Cooking Awards and use them to purchase cooking recipes. Purchase the recipes you’ll use or are in high demand on the Auction House and start cooking.

Fishing and Cooking (Levels 450-525)

This is the Cataclysm section of the guide. This will give you an idea of what it will take you to level to 525 in Fishing and Cooking. There are a lot of recipes listed that you can use to level up but they all require 3 Chef’s Awards to buy which are awarded from Stormwind/Orgrimmar Cooking Dailies so you will need to be careful of which ones you buy so that you can level up in an efficient way. Be sure to buy the first one at 450, the next at 475, and the last at 500 (all when first available).

Fishing Levels

Cooking Levels

Location

Cook

450-500

450-500

Inland Twilight Highlands

Lightly Fried Lurker
Lurker Lunch
Pickled Guppy

500-525

500-525

Coastal Twilight Highlands

Severed Sagefish Head
Delicious Sagefish Tail
Baked Rockfish

Hope you liked this fishing and cooking guide!

If you see something wrong or have feedback for this guide send an email to: webmaster[at]almostgaming.com

Fishing is often used as a great way to make gold. If you were just planning on fishing for your own good or if you were actually planning on using fishing to make gold I recommend that you look at this guide because it will change the way you see gold making.

This Fishing Leveling Guide is updated for patch 5.0.5 and Mists of Pandaria.

Fishing has not changed it is still fish anywhere and catch anything to level up your skill.

This guide is all about getting to that fishing skill of 600 so you can start farming those fish you need no matter where they are to gain stat food or simply farm to sell for gold. Following this guide will guarantee that you don’t spends days fishing to get your skill up to 600.

Training the Skill

Instead of running around to various trainers I recommend that you simply go to the fishing trainers located in either Stormwind or Orgrimmar. They will be able to teach you all the fishing skills that you need to level to 600. You will also be able to fish next to them the entire time until you reach 600, which is very convenient since you won’t have to run back and forth to anywhere.

How Your Skill Progresses in Fishing

From

To

Catches Needed to Level Your Skill Up

1

115

1

115

150

2

150

170

3

170

190

4

190

215

5

215

235

6

235

260

7

260

280

8

280

295

9

295

300

12

300

325

9

325

365

10

365

450

11

450

500

9

500

525

10

525

600

5-15 random

Things to Know About Fishing

1. Once you train your fishing skill you will have a icon in your spellbook under the professions tab that allows you to fish.

2. You need to have your fishing pole equipped!!!!!!!!!!

3. You will gain skill ups by successful catches, this means that even if you catch junk you will still gain skills.

Now that you have the basics down and know what to expect, not to mention all your gear, it is time to power level your fishing. Now this way is very simple if you are looking to get your skill up fast. Keep in mind there is no money made this way it is all about skill, you will catch a large majority of junk.

Fishing 1-600 at the Speed of Light

Follow the steps below and you will be a Illustrious Fisherman in no time!!!

1. Learn your first skill set as stated above by training with the fishing trainers in either Stormwind or Orgrimmar.

2. Begin fishing in the water. To do this all you need to do is to have your fishing pole equipped and click the fishing icon that is found in your spellbook under the professions tab. Once you cast you will see your bobber you must watch it until you get a bite which means your bobber will go underwater and back above making a splash once this happens you will right click and loot your fish that you caught.

3. Be sure to pay attention to when you can train up with the trainer again so that you aren’t fishing when your skill is maxed.

4. Remember the junk you are catching is not really worth anything (until you are actually able to catch the high level fish you won’t be catching much of any value) so you can destroy what you catch or sell it to a vendor as you need space.

If you see something wrong or have feedback for this guide send an email to: webmaster[at]almostgaming.com

There is an achievement in Mists of Pandaria that I accidentally stumbled across called “Lost and Found“.

Basically, you run through all of the MOP zones collecting rare spawns. Some of the items you get are junk and grey but some of the items you collect are rare items. Of the rare items you collect they are all between Item Level 404 and 450. These items are usable at level 85 for the lower ones and level 86 for the higher level ones.

For example, Blade of the Prime, is an item level 450 1-handed tanking sword usable at level 86. This is a great weapon to have not only to level up but it will probably be used for a little while at level 90. The best feature of this weapon is that is is Bind on Account, meaning you can send this weapon to any of your other characters on the account to use.

This guide will show you the best way to leveling your Cooking skill from 1 – 600. Cooking is a lot of fun to have but keep in mind that if you plan on doing a lot of Cooking it’s really helpful and easier to also have Fishing. If you are interested in leveling up both at the same time or using your Fishing to get fish to cook check out my WoW Fishing and Cooking Guide.

If you are taking up Cooking to make extra gold I highly recommend that you look at this guide before you start because it will revolutionize the way you play and provide you with the knowledge you need to make more gold than you’ll ever really need.

This Cooking Leveling Guide is updated for patch 5.0.5 and Mists of Pandaria.

**With MOP they made it very easy to level from 1-520 if you are starting out from a skill of 1. You can find the how to right here MOP Cooking 1-600

For Cooking you’ll need either meat from mobs or fish from fishing for most recipes in order to level up. If you have the gold I recommend you buy your mats off the Auction House because it will save you a ton of time.

For easy of Cooking on the go you will use your Basic Campfire skill, found in your spellbook under the general tab, to create a fire to cook your recipes no matter where you are.

The first step for you now is to find a Cooking Trainer to train your first Cooking skills, if you haven’t already.

Cooking 350-450

You’ll need to buy one recipe for this section that will require you to do Dalaran Cooking Dailies. You can pick whatever recipe you want to use but for the sake of simply leveling I’d suggest getting Spiced Mammoth Treats, Critter Bites, or Hearty Rhino.

Cooking 450-525

The only way to level from 450-525 is by purchasing recipes with Chef’s Awards (which are received from doing the Cooking Dailies in Stormwind and Orgrimmar). Luckily, these dailies are really simple to do. Keep in mind that you can buy any recipe you want, assuming you buy one that you can train at 450, one at 475, and one at 500. You could even buy recipes that require fish if you don’t have fishing, if you buy the fish off the Auction House. I’ll list the best recipes to get if you are planning to farm meat, but the choice is up to you.

Cooking in MOP 1-600

First if you are starting out with a skill of 1 you can do all your cooking within the Mists of Pandaria expansion. Below will give you the information you need to level cooking quickly and effectively.

First, go to the Halfhill Market in the Valley of the Four Winds and talk to Sungshin Ironpaw. Every recipe that you make that is orange will grant you 5 skill up. So follow the below steps to go 1-530. Of course you will need to learn the new ranks of cooking during this evolution from a cooking trainer. Keep in mind there are also recipes that contain fish in them where you may need to use in order to level up the only fished used in these recipes are Golden Carp which you can buy off the auction house or fish for them yourself in the waters of Pandaria.

a. Learn a cooking recipe
b. Purchase the ingredients from Sungshin Ironpaw
c. Cook the recipe until it is no longer orange
d. Learn a new recipe that is orange
e. Continue this until you have reached a skill of 530.

Way of the Wok-Agility
Way of the Grill-Strength
Way of the Pot-Intellect
Way of the Steamer-Spirit
Way of the Oven-Stamina
Way of the Brew-Drinking

You can learn all 6 Ways you do not need to pick any one specific. Before you begin cooking you will need to start the quest from Sunghin Ironpaw where all quests begin from for cooking a specific Way.

520-550

You will need to learn any of the first tier Way recipes and cook it 25 times.

550-576

Learn a second-tier recipe and cook 13 times. At this point if you choose a dish that benefits your class you will be getting food that increase the single stat by 275

576-600

You will need to now learn a Banquet recipe and cook it 5 times. Be advised that these dishes require alot of ingredients.

Now that your 600 skill enjoy!! The bonus is you can learn the ultimate recipe of a Way which increases a single stat by 300 congratulations!
If you see something wrong or have feedback for this guide send an email to: webmaster[at]almostgaming.com

Tomorrow patch 4.1 will be released. There are lots of changes and additions to the game such as Guild Challenges, Guild Finder, Dungeon Finder: Call to Arms, and the dungeons Zul’Gurub and Zul’Aman. As for profession specific changes, there are only a few, with the only substantial changes being the addition of Cooking and Fishing Dailies to Darnassus, Ironforge, Thunder Bluff, and Undercity. » Read more…